Matthew Bittle · @MatthewCBittle
1st Jul 2021 from TwitLonger
New career path
As some of you know, Wednesday was my final day with the State News. It’s been a wild seven years full of challenges, opportunities, successes, failures, friendships, and much more. I entered straight out of college lacking a special interest in government and politics and not entirely sure I could be a journalist. I shouldn’t have worried.
I've learned a lot -- about policy, about politics, about myself, about being a whole grown-ass adult -- in that time, and I've definitely enjoyed this job covering Delaware government and politics.
Having said that, I'm ready for new challenges and have grown interested in exploring other fields. One of the big ones I've come to realize I want to get involved in is advocacy work. Simply put, I want to fight for causes I care about, to feel as though I am part of the solution.
In hopes of exploring my interest in that field and my passion for certain causes, I've accepted a position as public affairs manager at Planned Parenthood of Delaware.
I'll definitely miss things about being a journalism. High on that list is working with the people I've gotten to know over the past seven years. But I expect to still be in similar circles as many of you, and at any rate, I don't think I'm too hard to find.
As a non-native, I like Delaware a lot. The state has plenty of problems, but a lack of passion isn’t one. We're small enough to avoid some of the issues that plague Congress, and I can attest that the legislators here certainly care about their districts and the state. I’m confident that everyone in Leg Hall is doing what they genuinely believe is best for Delaware, even if some of them and the people that sent them there have increasingly come to operate off "alternative facts."
As for me... I’m proud of my work. Regular readers have had the chance to stay informed about the goings-on of state government, something I see as especially valuable over the past couple of years as the media presence around the state capitol has diminished. I always enjoy hearing that people subscribe to the State News just because of me, or that we have the best political coverage in the state, or something along those lines, and I take a lot of pride in knowing there’s really been nowhere else for Delawareans to get a lot of the information I have reported in recent years.
So, after a lot of thought, I will be leaving journalism. It's been a good ride, and I appreciate everyone who's helped me professionally or even just read my work and enjoyed it or learned something from it. I start at Planned Parenthood next week and look forward to seeing where things go from here.
Don’t be a stranger.
Best wishes,
Matt